On Saturday, thousands are expected to participate in Refuse Fascism’s nationwide protest to demand the removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Since Metro last spoke with Sunsara Taylor, the group’s co-initiator and spokesperson, in early September, right-wing media have harkened the Nov. 4 rallies as the start of a violent civil war, something Taylor debunked.
“There are a lot of threats and lies being spread by white supremacists and fascists online against our nonviolent Nov. 4 protests,” she said. “On one level, it lets us know we’ve struck a chord, and they recognize the strength of what we are doing.
“The bottom line, however, is that we are acting in the interests of humanity and therefore we refuse to be intimidated,” she added. “Only the people can stop this regime that is tearing immigrants from their families, reasserting violent white supremacy, attacking women’s right to abortion and even birth control, ripping up environmental protections, inflicting genocidal neglect on the people of Puerto Rico and more.”
Metro: Do you fear retaliation on Nov. 4, especially in the wake of the August violence in Charlottesville, Virginia?
Sunsara Taylor: The hideous white supremacy, anti-Semitism and murderous violence in Charlottesville should be taken seriously by all – as should the fact that Trump told the world he saw “fine people” among those wielding torches and chanting Nazi slogans. This should be a wake-up call to millions. Don’t sit back as fascism gets consolidated! Come out in the streets in our numbers, in our beautiful diversity, with our love and determination for a better world.
You say the 2018 and 2020 elections are too late to address Trump’s administration. Why?
We can’t wait until Trump carries out a nuclear strike or until more white supremacist murders take place. If you were more outraged on Nov. 9 last year than you are today, that normalization is having an effect on you, and you need to snap out of it! The lesson of history is that you have to stop fascism before it becomes too late. This is why we must take the responsibility to act now to drive out this regime.
History is filled with examples where people fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. It is also filled with examples of people hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined. The future is unwritten — which one we get is up to us. I urge everyone to come out this Saturday.
Refuse Fascism’s Nov. 4 protest begins in Boston at Parkman Bandstand in Boston Commons at 4 p.m.; in New York at 42nd Street and Broadway at 2 p.m.; and in Philadelphia at Thomas Paine Plaza at 2 p.m.
